Helleborus niger 'Snowbells'™ - ​Gorgeous cultivar with bright white semi-double flowers displaying extra petaloids sequestering the plush golden central sexual parts. Flowers measure 2.5 to 3 inches diameter and may become infused with pink as they age. Flowers naturally face outwards and grace us very early in the growing year for weeks on end upon stems that are reddish. Down south this species may flower around the winter solstice or soon thereafter making sense of the common moniker, Christmas Rose. Foliage is dark green and, in fact, evergreen, only dying back as the new leaves take their place. H. niger is a helpful species to bees looking for food at the start of the new season. Christmas Rose is not bothered by deer or rabbits. If you think it looks delicious - don't; hellebores are members of the Ranunculaceae, the buttercup family which is why the animals avoid it. They, along with delphiniums, aconites, monkshood among others in their ranks are poisonous. Fertile, bony ground in shade, dappled shade or early morning sun. They seem to revel in good soils that have lots of crushed gravel in them. It is said that added lime is beneficial though our H. niger have thrived in our shaded woodland gardens without amendment. Walters Gardens intro.